Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Lots of awesome pizzas in this thread!

Yesterday I finally joined the Ooni crowd and tried out my new Koda. Unfortunately it came not working, so I had to disassemble the bottom and tighten and clean the thermocouple. But then it thankfully worked great, and I was able to try it out.

Holy poo poo it cooks fast! For someone used to doing a standard 500F oven, doing a pizza at 900+ is crazy fast. This was my first pizza after only 30 seconds or so:

And here was my second pizza, I tried out a few different cheeses and toppings to see how they worked. It wasn't perfect by any means and I have a long way to go, but man it was good. I am going to work on my shaping and launching, but this is a really cool gadget and I am loving it so far.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2021 15:14

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 22:37

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

lifts cats over head posted:

My wife just won an Ooni Karu 12 and I'm very excited to start making some pies. I'm a very novice pizza chef having only really made them in a 500° oven. Anyone with experience with the Ooni line have advice/tips? Essential accessories? I've already ordered a peel and a thermometer. How well do they do in cold weather?

I have had mine for a month or so and have really enjoyed it. A peel is a necessity, I also got the metal turning peel and am glad I did, its much easier to maneuver.

(this one, but I am sure there are cheaper ones: https://ooni.com/products/ooni-pizza-turning-peel )

I'd say that the pizzas I have made on it are definitely the best I have ever made, after years of the standard 500-degree oven its like night and day better. But you have to be careful not to burn it since it cooks so fast, and really my main challenge has been a clean launch.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7kIjZh2rxU

Its helpful, and I'd say to err on the side of more flour (or even better, semolina) underneath, even though it can cause a bit of charring on the base. Also, once the toppings are on it has to go in fast, or else the sauce will start to seep through and stick everything to the peel. Once the dough gets really stuck on the peel it's a lost cause, pretty much.

I hope you enjoy it!

Ishamael fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Dec 3, 2021

# ¿ Dec 3, 2021 15:37

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

HolHorsejob posted:

What do folks use to make their peel nice and slidey? I'm using cornmeal but I can rarely make the pizza slide easy unless I use way too much

I started using semolina instead of flour or corn meal and it works way better, I�m definitely sticking with it.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2021 06:30

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

We had a one year anniversary party for the space that we�ve been working out of! It was a slapper of a day, and we sold out after making 150 pizzas. A friend was able to catch some cool shots of me working the oven near the end of the day.

https://i.imgur.com/P71u63T.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/KVYf5IJ.mp4

This is awesome! Congrats man

# ¿ Dec 13, 2021 16:09

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Splinter posted:

Took a few attempts to get the hang of the turning peel in the tiny oven, but here are my early non-burnt results from the Ooni Koda 12 (pardon the sloppy toppin'):

For a dough recipe thus far, I've been using Forkish's 24-48 hour dough (from Elements of Pizza), except with the hydration adjusted from 70% down to 60% (as the 70% recipe is designed for 550F home ovens), but I'd like to start experimenting. Any recommendations for other recipes to try?

Looks great! Love the spotting on the edges, looks tasty.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2022 17:47

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Some recent pizzas, I have only been doing this a couple months but I am enjoying myself:

I switched to a poolish-based dough which is definitely more challenging but has been giving better results.

I have the Koda 16, I usually make 12" pizzas but I like the extra room and I got it just before the price increase. :woop:

My family usually just wants a basic pepperoni, which is fine with me. I have tried some other toppings as well but this is the basic that I make weekly.

Getting some decent crumb, still needs work to be more consistent but there are some good ones in there:

Loving this hobby so far.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2022 16:30

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

GramCracker posted:

This looks awesome! What did you do for the cheese here? Fresh mozz and something else?

Thanks! Yeah I put down a small base of shredded mozzarella, then topped with fresh mozz and some grated parm.

LifeSunDeath posted:

Looks DANK!

THANKs!

# ¿ Feb 17, 2022 23:31

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

sometimes i try making sfincione with my detroit pans--bottom being whatever sheep's milk cheese i can get my hands on, and then a layer of tomato sauce with anchovy and onion melted in, and topped with panko

i worry about having sauce going literally right up to the edges, though, and if that might damage the pans

I had never heard of this before, so I looked it up. It sounds really interesting!

# ¿ Feb 18, 2022 03:01

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Semolina, a little finer than cornmeal. Once we started using this it�s a pain to use flour anymore.

I use semolina as well to prevent peel sticking, but I find it tends to burn in the oven. Any advice?

Thanks for the instructive videos!

# ¿ Feb 28, 2022 19:07

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

I don't know about conventional ovens here so my advice may be off-base since it comes from my brick oven. You would want a finer, consistent semolina. I think Bob's Red Mill does a good one. You can get coarser, jagged semolina, and even stuff like King Arthur's Durum Wheat can be oddly coarser than it (even though durum should be finer). OTOH that texture is great for pasta and various other Mediterranean stuff. I think rice flour holds up better than various durum/semolina though.

Sorry, should have been more specific. I am using the Ooni Koda, with Bobs Red Mill. It does a good job keeping the dough from sticking, but then I end up with a lot of burnt semolina on my pizza and burned into my baking stone. Wanted to see if you had any advice there. Thanks!

# ¿ Mar 1, 2022 03:11

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

What's your bake time?

Bake time is about 90 seconds.

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

What I do notice is that semolina left around in the oven is going to burn out no matter what. In my wood-fired oven, I can rake coals over that and then puff it clean with an air pipe. I don't know what the Ooni crew does.

I guess that's what I mean, having all that leftover burnt semolina seems like its gotta be affecting the flavor. I have a slotted peel so I try to get most of it off before putting it into the oven, but I am still ending up with a lot on the stone at the end, and I was wondering if there was a good way to bring that amount down without losing the slippery peel that semolina gives.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2022 16:02

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

When the dough comes out of the tray it�s fairly �moist� or tacky. After they come out of the walk-in they sit in the tray for several hours to come to room temp, and this releases some condensation in the trays keeping everything wet so that the doughs don�t dry out.
We use a really fine semolina so it doesn�t scratch or tear at the dough. In the first part of opening, the semolina is used as a friction base so that I can palm stretch the dough on the table. Then you can see me slightly clear the semolina away as I go into the slap and pulls. Now I�m using the stickiness of the stainless steel to hold that dough in place as I pull and stretch after each slap. Finally it�s a stretch in the back of the hands, moving to using my knuckles to work the edge, feeling for anything that�s too thick or misshaped.

As far as the peel goes, we use a slotted metal peel as well and it�s a bit of an art to get it on with minimal semolina, then we just shake the pizza on the peel and do a final stretch and throw it in the oven. Trust me when I say that putting the pizza on the peel and launching it is the hardest part of pizza making!!

This is really helpful, thank you! And I agree, the launching without sticking has been the biggest learning curve for me. I have only done about 10 pizzas so far and 3 of those have failed in the launch, so I am still in the positives but its definitely a process.

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

I can concur that I would start to get some burned crumblies if I try three pizzas in the same spot without clearing the bricks first. I don't know what all tricks you can do with an Ooni. If the stuff isn't caked on, can you blow it back and out of the way with a metal pipe? I keep one on standby specifically to take care of ash and burnt crumblies.

I have a brush that I use to clear the stone before each bake, but it just seems like a lot. I am guessing I just need more practice.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2022 19:06

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

I saw the pizza guy from Posto Boston (Juan Perez) using extra pizza dough to make these tasty looking appetizer breads, so I tried it too.

Rosemary-olive oil-sea salt bread (delicious)

If you haven't, I recommend checking out his instagram. He does some half-speed dough stretching to show the technique that I found very useful as a fairly new neopolitan maker.

https://www.instagram.com/juangpizza/?hl=en

Ishamael fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Mar 10, 2022

# ¿ Mar 10, 2022 20:46

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Had a fun pizza night with friends over the weekend, and all the pizzas came out well. I'm slowly getting a technique that is more reliable and is giving me results I am happier with. But still need more practice!

Also made some more of the olive oil/salt/rosemary bread appetizers from the extra dough, they went over well too.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2022 16:18

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

I added semolina, and also started doing the grab-and-drag method where I put all the toppings on while the dough is on the counter, then drag it to the peel. Then I do a rough re-shape and make sure everything can still "shake" on the peel as I take it to the oven. This has solved almost all of my launching problems.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 13:55

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Testing square pies, did a Sicilian meets a Detroit kinda thing. Next time gonna up the hydration on the dough.

g-g-g-goddaaaamn

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 15:11

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Finally getting the hang of Detroit style, this was my best one yet.

That cheese edge looks heavenly.

# ¿ May 4, 2022 00:21

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

I don�t wanna get overly mushy but we just got our permits to proceed with construction - breaking ground next week on my first brick and mortar restaurant. The pizza journey has been long and weird but thanks y�all for enduring and helping me along the way over the years.

Congrats man! Looking forward to seeing the pics

# ¿ May 20, 2022 15:42

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Here�s the write up I meant to do last week for y�all. This is my current method for the pan pizza dough, but I�m tweaking and testing nearly every batch so near that in mind as you try your own.

The numbers:
Flour - 100%
Water - 77%
Sourdough - 10%
Salt - 2%
Oil - 2%

I use a three flour blend - 80% Caputo Nuvola Super, 10% Tipo 1, and 10% 00.

Mix water and sourdough completely, add flour and mix till combined.
Autolyse for 30 mins.
Begin mixing final dough, add salt after 1 min. Mix for another 4 mins, add the oil. Mix for another 3-4 mins.
Bulk ferment for 3-4 hours, with 2 sets of stretch/folds. First set 1 hour in, second set at hour 2.
Butter the Detroit pans bottoms and sides.
For an 8x10 Lloyd pan, ball out a 350g ball into each pan. Wrap the pan in plastic, and place in the fridge.
Fridge proof for 48-72 hours.
Remove from fridge 8 hours before baking time.
Dimple the dough every 30 minutes for the first hour and a half, let rest after that until bake time.
At this point you can either parbake the dough or top and bake (this method is my next step in testing).
Parbake at 500F till golden brown, remove and cool completely.
Wrap in plastic and freeze. Good for up to 3 months.
When ready to use, remove from plastic and come to room temp (faster than you think). Place in lightly oiled Detroit pan.
Using brick cheese helps create the coveted cheese edge. Top lightly with oil, parm, cheese, sauce, and toppings as desired.
Bake in oven at 550F till cheese edges are boiling and baked.
Remove from oven and let cool slightly for a minute or two, then carefully slide a metal spatula blade along the edge of the pan and your cheese to separate them. Let cool another minute then remove from pan onto wire rack.
Finish with fresh parm, basil, etc.
Cut and enjoy!

That�s my current recipe and method, but there�s lots of room to improve and streamline the process

This is awesome, thanks! For the cheese edge, do you place shredded brick cheese between the dough and pan, or are you top-loading it and letting it drip down as it heats?

# ¿ May 23, 2022 17:59

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

CancerCakes posted:

Can those with outdoor ovens post their set ups please? I need to build something before the Karu beast arrives. Do you stretch and top inside or do you have outdoor stations? I'm thinking of putting the oven at chest height so I don't have to do so much bending down. And maybe a roof over it to protect more from rain?

I built a porch last year, and used the scrap lumber to build an outdoor kitchen table (the other end will hold a Big Green Egg when I'm done, and when I buy one). Our solo stove and firewood sit underneath as well.

I took some leftover tile and added a tile top to the pizza end, which is nice to have.

I was thinking of building a retractable canopy or roof, but that might be too much hassle so I may have my MIL sew me a big cover for the whole table, to keep it all out of the rain. Right now I'm just using a tarp.

I generally still build inside and bring out, just so i can keep ingredients in the fridge when I'm not using them.

# ¿ May 24, 2022 16:04

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Random question: has anyone had good luck with freezing dough balls? I�m curious when is the best part of the process to freeze them (I would guess right after final shaping, before the last proof)

But even more than that, I�m curious if you have seen any noticeable difference between dough that has been frozen and thawed, and never-frozen.

# ¿ May 29, 2022 18:16

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

my god

# ¿ Jul 29, 2022 14:10

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Well I can�t back out now

Awesome! Good luck!

# ¿ Aug 12, 2022 16:37

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Power Khan posted:

I've recently bought an ooni koda 16 (pbuh), are there any special hints you can give me running it? Like, how far to turn up the heat setting, etc.

Thx

I usually heat mine for 45 minutes at full heat, then bring the heat down to 2/3 or so for the actual cooking. That lower cooking temp gives you a couple extra seconds to adjust things without burning, but the stone is nice and hot to get a crisp bottom.

And even at a lower temp you are done in 90-120 seconds.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2022 04:38

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

bees x1000 posted:

super cool. I think I found you guys on instagram. And speaking of instagram, anyone know of good pizza-making-centric accounts to follow?

I like Juan Perez, @juangpizza , he is the pizza guy at Posto in Boston and has a crazy efficient wood fired system going. He also shows his dough shaping techniques in detail which is helpful.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2022 01:39

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Zombie Dachshund posted:

Anyway, here are three pies from Sunday pizza night. Margherita, mushroom, thyme and homemade sausage, and sausage/olive/ricotta salata:

These look excellent!

# ¿ Oct 19, 2022 05:44

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Passed our health inspection, we soft open next week!

Congrats and good luck! Post some pics of the opening if you can!

# ¿ Dec 2, 2022 16:07

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

ogopogo posted:

Thanks y�all, it�s been an amazing few days. We�ve done more business in the first two days than we did in nearly a month at our old spot. I haven�t had much time to do anything but be there and work but here�s a few photos!

Thirst trapping for all the wine moms in our neighborhood.

https://i.imgur.com/j5NiRnF.mp4

That oven is a thing of beauty. Congratulations on the opening!

# ¿ Dec 9, 2022 17:59

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Semolina and a metal peel solved 90% of my launching issues, I recommend it!

# ¿ Dec 12, 2022 20:14

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

What�s the point of cheese on pizza it�s just milk that got an attitude

# ¿ Jan 8, 2023 04:07

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Are we really going to start gatekeeping putting loving pepperoni on pizzas?

# ¿ Jan 9, 2023 16:53

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

sirbeefalot posted:

Serious question, who is not just buying the other half or 1/3 of that pizza

I used to always get slices from our local pizza spot, because they would be ready 5x faster than a full pizza and be the same amount of food

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 01:29

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Trastion posted:

What's the consensus on these type of ovens? Are there ones that are better than others? Do they do a good job? Do they burn through a lot of fuel for the effort?

I am wanting to get one of these but there are a lot of options and they are not inexpensive so I want to make sure if I get one that its a good one.

Is there a thread that's more suited for that discussion?

I have the Ooni Koda 16, and I really enjoy it. I am glad I got the gas type, it makes me much more likely to fire it up on a normal weekday when I have less time. I haven't done much experimenting with using it for other stuff, I know a lot of people use it to sear steak etc, or use it with cast iron for various things. Hopefully I can get more into that end of it this year.

That said, it is not cheap so I'd only get one if you are feeling frustrated at the limits of your standard oven.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2023 14:59

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Anyone have a pizza cutter they love? I have had a generic OXO one for a long time but it finally broke and I want to get a good one.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2023 14:44

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

DR FRASIER KRANG posted:

Lol how did it break? My OXO just broke two days ago and it did so by completely snapping off the wheel when I went to press down on a crust edge.

Haha sounds similar to mine, besides becoming dull as dirt it just broke at the wheel connection point eventually.

Thanks for all the recommendations everyone! I will check out some options and let you know what I get.

Human Tornada posted:

Castelvetrano olives, red onion, mozzarella and feta with a same day dough.

Also, this looks awesome, that is all.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2023 18:08

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

So, let's just say that hypothetically, if you have an Ooni in your backyard, and you invite a bunch of people over for pizza, and it starts a hurricane-level downpour just as you start cooking your pizzas, these are a few hypothetical things that could happen!

-The oven won't maintain the proper temperature inside when being absolutely deluged with cold water on the outside
-The pizza will get very wet when launching and pulling, no matter how well you try to hold an umbrella
-The weird temperature issues due to all the water will lead to a very uneven bake

Ask me how I know!

On the good news side, I found that you actually can sorta cook neopolitan dough in a home oven, with some caveats. First, preheat a stone for a long time at 500F. Then, par-cook the crust for several minutes to get some crispiness. Then, cook the pizza with toppings for a bit after that, and use the broiler to get some color on the top.

It is not anything the same as doing it in the high-heat oven, but it was decent enough that we could eat dinner and people seemed to still enjoy it fine, even though I was disappointed. Basically, watch the weather or have your oven covered somehow if it is going to downpour.

That is all.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2023 20:15

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

blixa posted:

I really like Samin Nosrat's one from Salt Fat Acid Heat - it's brined, which really helps each bite get that salty flavor.

This is my go-to as well, it always gets rave reviews.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2023 04:42

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Amazing!! Congrats man!

# ¿ Mar 22, 2024 12:58

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 22:37

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Recent pizza in the ol' Ooni Koda:

# ¿ Mar 26, 2024 16:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone